DearPhelan,—­Hurrah! Hurrah!
and again Hurrah! You have done nobly. The
victory in California came late, but it was none the
less surprising and gratifying. We can dance like
Miriam, as we see the enemies of Israel go down in
the flood.

I shall expect to see you here before long. With
warmest congratulations to you personally. As
always, sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

To Herbert Harley

Washington, November 18, 1912

MydearMr. Harley,—...
There are many hopeful signs, as you say, not the
least of which is that the Supreme Court has at last
been moved to amend its equity rules. The whole
agitation for judicial recall will do good because
it will not lead to judicial recall but to the securing
of a superior order of men on the bench and to simplified
procedure. I find that it is better to decide
matters promptly and sometimes wrongly than to have
long delays. The people have very little confidence
in our courts, and this is because of one reason:
Our judges are not self-owned; either they are dominated
by a political machine or by associations of an even
worse character. Few men on the bench are corrupt;
many of them are lazy, and others are chosen from
the class who feel with property interests exclusively.
I am heartily in sympathy with a movement such as
that you are promoting. It is in my opinion a
very practical way—­perhaps the only practical
way—­of heading off universal judicial recall.
This is a Democracy and the people are going to have
men and methods adopted that will give them the kind
of judicial procedure that they want. They are
not going to be unfair unless driven to be radical
by intolerable conditions. ...

Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

Immediately after Woodrow Wilson’s election
in November, telegrams and letters from different
parts of the country, and especially from his many
friends in California, began to reach Lane asking
that he should consider himself available for a Cabinet
position, offering support and requesting his permission
for them to make a strong effort in his behalf.
This he emphatically refused, saying that he was not
a candidate, but in spite of his refusals, editorials
began to appear in many Western papers.

To Charles K. McClatchy Sacramento Bee

Washington, November 25, 1912

MydearCharles,—­I received
your note and this morning have a copy of the paper
containing the cartoon on “Unfinished Business,”
the original of which, by the way, I should like to
have for my library. ...